<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>San Francisco, 2005 by Elexica</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563071">San Francisco, 2005</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica'>Elexica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>San Francisco, Forever [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brother relationship, Drabble, Gen, Kaiba brothers, kaiba has a space station</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:59:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>694</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mokuba intervenes about the fact they own a space station.  <br/>After the events of DSOD.  Mokuba and Seto are in San Francisco for a visit to NASA Ames to talk space station.  <br/>Prequel to the other SF, forever stories, but not at all essential reading, stands alone just fne.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>San Francisco, Forever [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757809</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>San Francisco, 2005</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A/N In the story timeline DSOD is supposed to take place at the end of their senior year of high school which should be 2004 by my count.  Just a drabble for background.  No warnings.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mokuba and Seto are sitting in the limo on the way back to SFO airport after a successful meeting at NASA Ames in Menlo Park.</p><p>This was one of the first business trips where Seto and Mokuba since what Mokuba had come to refer to as “the incident.”  Seto had been unwilling, for months, to actually explain anything that had happened.  While at the NASA offices, Seto had been challenged to a duel by one of the engineers., and the entire afternoon had been monopolized by his brother trashing nerds at duel monsters.  It culminated in Seto dueling a four star general on top of the worlds largest flight simulator.</p><p>Seto was looking out the window with a stack of freshly drafted contracts in his lap.  Mokuba stared at him.</p><p>“So this is going to go on forever then?”</p><p>“What?” Seto asked, stirred from his thoughts, which evaporated like the fog on a sunny afternoon.</p><p>“Even when all the crazy shit—”</p><p>“Language.”</p><p>“Even when all of the crazy … stuff … stops following us, you’re going to keep hunting it down.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Seto asked, looking down at the contracts.  “We were just monetizing the station, creating new business allies, increasing the company’s international profile—”</p><p>“Seto, you’re an addict.”</p><p>“I assure you, I am in complete control of any substance dependencies.” Mokuba could have started arguing about coffee, but decided against it.  It was a distraction from the key problem.</p><p>“No, you’re addicted to this! Whatever this is?! Making your life harder than it has to be. And mine too, since my brother is always about to die.”</p><p>Seto sat up, placing the stack of contracts down on the bench next to him, finally on the offensive.  “That is unfair, everything I do has been for you.”</p><p>“Really, Seto?”  Mokuba echoed dramatically.  He pointed out the town car’s window, at the stars, “Seto, we have a space station.  What do we even need with a space station?”</p><p>“We are pushing the frontier on basic research by expanding zero gravity facilities, and access to the labs is leased to a variety of public and private entities to the extent that we will break even on the station in a few years, and should be turning a significant—”</p><p>“Seto.  I’m not a stakeholder.  I’m your brother.  And I have never once asked for a space station.  I have never asked for you to be the…” Mokuba rolled his eyes as he said it, “King of Games.”</p><p>Seto looked out the window.  “Do you have a problem with my business judgment?”</p><p>“No.  But I know better.  The space station wasn’t for business.  It sure as hell wasn’t for me.” Seto gasped, about to interrupt, but Mokuba continued. “You left me, Seto.  Are you finally done hunting for whatever you needed?”</p><p>Seto shrugged. “I won a match against him.”  He looked so impassive, even though that had been his life’s purpose for so long.  The legendary fire, the disturbing gravitas, all melted into a dispassionate version of Kaiba that Mokuba couldn't recognize.</p><p>Mokuba’s eyes went wide, and he allowed silence to pry more out of his brother.  He had never been properly debriefed about what had happened on the other side.  All his brother had told him was that his technology was operational.</p><p>“And I immediately asked for a rematch.”  Shame tinted Seto's blue eyes black.</p><p>Mokuba felt crushed by the statement.  This was the final proof that Duel Monsters was not going to make his brother whole again, no matter what he did.</p><p>“He denied me, and the interdimensional travel was too unstable to force the issue.  I don’t need to go back.”</p><p>“So it is over.”</p><p>Kaiba looked out the window.  He saw fog tracing its way through the hills, curling over the natural landscape and curving about buildings branded with start-up logos.</p><p>“I don’t know.” Seto said finally, wiping his hand across his face.  No amount of silence would drag anything else from him. </p><p>They made it to the airport in silence.  Mokuba considered not getting into the jet without a real conversation but decided against it.  He didn’t have much else to say, anyway.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>